Following Sprint’s and the Department of Justice lead, regional carrier Cellular South has filed an anti-trust lawsuit hoping to block AT&T’s takeover of T-Mobile USA. According to Eric Graham, Cellular South Vice President for Strategic and Government relations a combined AT&T/T-Mobile would “substantially lesson competition” and “essentially consolidate the market into the hands of the ‘Big Two’ AT&T and Verizon.” Additionally, the carrier believes that higher roaming fees will result, innovation will be reduced along with consumer choice and due to exclusivity agreements regional carriers would have a tougher time getting the best products in a reasonable amount of time.

Sprint has already responded to Cellular South’s lawsuit:

Vonya B. McCann, Sprint’s Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, issued the following statement:

“Today Cellular South stands with the U.S. Department of Justice, seven state Attorneys General and Sprint in asking the Courts to protect American consumers from the harms to competition, innovation, and pricing that likely would result if AT&T is allowed to takeover T-Mobile. As this growing chorus of opposition shows, this proposed transaction violates antitrust law and is not in the best interests of consumers and the American economy.”

About David Beren

David is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TmoNews.com. He considers himself a Jedi Knight, capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound and a connoisseur of fine cell phones. He has been involved in the wireless industry since 2003 and has been known to swap out phones far too many times in any given year. Should you wish to contact him, you can do so: david@tmonews.com.

All these companies coming out of the wood work after the doj filed its lawsuit…..where were they for the past six months? Why didn’t these companies file suit sooner if they were so against this buyout?

Anonymous

All these companies coming out of the wood work after the doj filed its lawsuit…..where were they for the past six months? Why didn’t these companies file suit sooner if they were so against this buyout?

Anonymous

Fear, uncertainty, doubt. Because AT&T has so much influence and power, probably no small company wanted to get blacklisted for blackballed by in their existing relationships with AT&T. There’s probably dog-piling going on, and some roundabout.

It’s like the abused spouse syndrome. It should be a sign to you now that if AT&T scares the little guys this much now, what would they be like if they get bigger?

Anonymous

Sprint and cell south came out against att in the early congress hearings soon after the deal was announced, but none of these companies filed suit until the doj did. Sprints been the most vocal, so why didn’t they spearhead the lawsuit? Another thing that I find interesting here is that an antitrust lawsuit was filed before an antitrust violation took place. Att or dt hasn’t violated any antitrust laws as far as I know. Specifics of approval haven’t been hammered out yet, so I find it odd that a lawsuit could even be filed. I understand the little guys worrying about their future as well as the doj needing positive pr, but to me this is all kind of ridiculous. This is like minority report….precrime. if the doj and att agree to let a deal go through with 35% divest, would all these companies still be complaining? Would some of them back off if they benefit from the divesting of assets?

NuShrike

Here’s some research http://www.publicknowledge.org /blog/whats-stake-doj-challenge-attt-mobile-future- that helped me understand it better. DoJ/FCC can block any acquisition/merger to harms competition or American interests.

Anonymous

Here’s some research www dot publicknowledge dot org/blog/whats-stake-doj-challenge-attt-mobile-future- that helped me understand it better. DoJ/FCC can block any acquisition/merger to harms competition or American interests.

Jaygqitalia

Im surprised Verizon hasnt came out and tried to block it. They would go from Number 1 to Number 2

ogopogo

It is in Verizon’s best interest to keep quiet on the matter. Their only angle (as the largest provider) is antitrust. They are already feeling some heat because they have been lumped into the “good ‘ol boy Bell network” with AT&T. The less spotlight on them, the better. The last thing that you want is for the government to start scrutinizing your monopoly.

Bimmerz

Because they were secretly hoping it would go through, so that they could pounce on Sprint. (Just a guess, but I am betting this is the case.)

Auser72

Verizon started out as Atlantic Bell. Atlantic Bell was one of the 7 baby bells of the ATT split because of their monopoly on telephone service. History does repeat itself. Same thing with Bell south <Cingular <Att. History truly does repeat itself!!!!!!!!!!!!

Paul

because they could use this takeover as an argument to do their own takeovers in the future

JBLMOBILEG1

I agree because if it does go through and Sprint trys to sell to Verizon…. Verizon could come back and say… you approved the At&t deal… So what’s the deal why can’t we buy Sprint? After all there are still prepaid and regional carriers who by the way roam off of our network and At&t ONLY.

The only company that really pisses me off here is Sprint. Look at the news about AT&T trying to come up w/ deals w/ these “smaller” companies, where Sprint was named to be one of these said companies, and when asked to comment on the matter, they refused. Yet, here they are, being the stinking instigator, that one lil short fat kid in the background, egging ppl on. Seems like Sprint will do whatever it takes to look good, but when AT&T throws them a bone they all of a sudden have nothing to say? Hmm…interesting.

BigMixxx

Sprint always wanted to be at the table. That’s what the major law suit…..

because the bone that ATT no doubt threw Sprint was:
1. After the DoJ lawsuit.
2. for assets useless to Sprint
3. A chicken bone.

Anonymous

Good job C South. KEEP HOPE ALIVE!

ogopogo

I’m actually surprised that Simple Mobile isn’t filing as well. Simple Mobile uses T-Mobile’s network. Without T-Mobile, there would be no Simple Mobile.

Stopsnitching

yes there would, atnt would just take the riches…. its like tracfone they have agreements with atnt and tmobile to roam on there gsm towers.

ogopogo

True statement – The only difference is the data speeds. Since Simple uses T-Mobile’s AWS, you won’t get the same speeds when roaming on an AT&T tower.

ogopogo

True statement – The only difference is the data speeds. Since Simple uses T-Mobile’s AWS, you won’t get the same speeds when roaming on an AT&T tower.

Stopsnitching

yes there would, atnt would just take the riches…. its like tracfone they have agreements with atnt and tmobile to roam on there gsm towers.

Stopsnitching

yes there would, atnt would just take the riches…. its like tracfone they have agreements with atnt and tmobile to roam on there gsm towers.

Paul

They don’t want to upset Tmobile because Tmobile want the takeover

JBLMOBILEG1

My guess is because like others said… they don’t want to upset Tmobile… So if it doesn’t go through and Tmobile continues they will be on their good side. Also for the fact that if it does go through my guess their hopes for striking a deal with At&t will be better since they didn’t complain about it. I guess for their situation they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

JBLMOBILEG1

My guess is because like others said… they don’t want to upset Tmobile… So if it doesn’t go through and Tmobile continues they will be on their good side. Also for the fact that if it does go through my guess their hopes for striking a deal with At&t will be better since they didn’t complain about it. I guess for their situation they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

n900mixalot

Where are all of the GSM regional carriers in this? Oh yeah, they all roam on AT&T and T-Mobile networks.

Cell South seems to be a CDMA carrier.

Anonymous

I know we should be hearing from companies like Simple Mobile that roam off of T-mobile.

Anonymous

Some reason, T-Mobile can’t roam on AT&T since the Cingular folding. HMM.

BWAHAHAHA!!!! Next independent payphone companies will file a lawsuit.

Anonymous

If it was remotely possible to show an effect on their business why not? whats really funny about trying to stay in business?

BP

BWAHAHAHA!!!! Next independent payphone companies will file a lawsuit.

DetroitTechnoFan

When you have a big fire that needs to be put out, you need a bigger extinguisher. The more the better I say.

GinoMcDonald

AT&T has really bothered the lame CDMA carriers who nobody cares about. Can’t wait for the buyout to commence and watch all the crybaby’s shut the heck up already.

BigMixxx

Don’t know about you big homie, but they are trying to keep their company alive. The craziest thing here is that they want to be at the table too.

Remember, squeakiest wheel gets the most oil…Sprint has been hollering since the beginning. Cellular south was there. Pretty soon you will see a metro pcs and leap.

They see the writing on the wall, get in bed with AT&T or Verizon (During their cutover to gsm type technologies).

It’s a shame though. As T-mobile is releasing some good devices, this sort of thing starts to happen….

BigMixxx

Don’t know about you big homie, but they are trying to keep their company alive. The craziest thing here is that they want to be at the table too.

Remember, squeakiest wheel gets the most oil…Sprint has been hollering since the beginning. Cellular south was there. Pretty soon you will see a metro pcs and leap.

They see the writing on the wall, get in bed with AT&T or Verizon (During their cutover to gsm type technologies).

It’s a shame though. As T-mobile is releasing some good devices, this sort of thing starts to happen….

JBLMOBILEG1

Funny… I pretty much said all of this to a reply on an older post. I know what I am talking about and it looks like the CEO of one of the regional carriers agrees. I have been working in the wireless industry for years and most of the smaller carriers rely on the larger ones. Everything I said is pretty much mentioned in this article. DOJ do what you have to do and keep At&t away from Tmobile. I do not believe anything they say anymore and they have given everyone plenty of reasons not to.

JBLMOBILEG1

Funny… I pretty much said all of this to a reply on an older post. I know what I am talking about and it looks like the CEO of one of the regional carriers agrees. I have been working in the wireless industry for years and most of the smaller carriers rely on the larger ones. Everything I said is pretty much mentioned in this article. DOJ do what you have to do and keep At&t away from Tmobile. I do not believe anything they say anymore and they have given everyone plenty of reasons not to.

J. Williams

Wow. I can’t believe this is still a topic! Phones please. Other site have more about T-Mobile than this one, step it up. Oh yeah, please.

Anonymous

Like what site? David(The Editor) does a fine job of reporting every worthy t-mobile article. Now as far as I know there is only one other t-mobile specific site cellphone signal but they report almost anything even the blatantly false rumours.

J. Williams

You better than that. Now stop riding on David like that. I know he does a good job, but ummm. More news like I stated. That’s all.

Tmoemployee

you’re an idiot. this is t-mobile news.. as it is another step in blocking the acquisition.. I’m an employee and this site posts stuff before we get news in the store. stop being negative and go to another site or shut up

J. Williams

Name calling. Wow. Grow up, please. Kick rocks back to where you were.

We can chill with the name calling but J. Williams…please tell me what is T-Mobile related that other sites are posting that we aren’t? Specific examples, show me articles. I report T-Mobile related news and things that relate to the AT&T/T-Mobile deal are worthy of being reported. When there is phone news, I’ll report on it. You honestly can’t believe there is 365 days worth of phone news can you? News just doesn’t appear out of thin air but I’ll do my best to make some stuff up for you tomorrow just so I can post some completely fake but totally unrelated to the AT&T deal. Please, find me news I’m not reporting that you seem to think “other sites” are doing a better job at.

J. Williams

Just sent you one…but I don’t understand why you guys get so bent out of shape. My comments is a lot less harsh than what I’ve seen on here before. you know it too david.

Right and here it is, and just for the record we posted it on the 15th, they posted it on the 16th and you would have found it had you used the “search” function at the top. Perhaps the problem is that you aren’t looking to see if something is posted and just assuming it isn’t.

“Have a good night” means you’re done for now. Right? So leave it alone for tonight!

BigMixxx

Homie — Don’t know if you’ve noticed…Only thing in the news lately is this Acquisition. I had to explain, what it means to have 2 really large companies dominating the industry. To your point, point out the devices, but don’t miss the fact that you, if you are a t mobile customer, are getting the cheapest, fastest mobile internet experience available. That will go away. It will affect you, like gasoline has affected all of us. Our mobile phones are not just mobile devices anymore, they are Devices at which run and control our lives (at least mine). For each nanobyte of information transfered, that is a REAL penny in the pocket of T mobile, which affects the overall bottom line vs. voice service. Think this through. The foundation of a lot of things we see these days, internet wise REALLY started with AT&T. This was the only phone company for a long, LONG time. (Recall when Touch tone dailing costed something extrat), AT&T has a HUGE Tier 1 network (so does verizon and sprint and yes, DT) so the more integrated they get into our lives, the more it will eventually cost us. Right now it costs Carriers NOTHING to provide voice, but the money maker is internet connected devices. I watch TV for the commercials. The next time you see a verizon commercial, you watch for the device and how many times they say ‘Fast’ and internet and how it pumps up the casual user to go and get one of these fast internet machines.Detach yourself for a day and watch your withdrawal. I hit the mountains once a year to do that, I promise you look at things totally different from where you actually are connected.I digress…David keep on doing what you are doing.

If your all about phones i suggest you go check out GSMarena.com they always have a ton of phones news with little buy out news from AT&T. David posts EVERYTHING T-Mobile, not everything (insert your favorite mobile phone here). This is a cool site with so much info you can’t get anywhere else or at times will appear here first. I’d love to know about phones, don’t get me wrong that’s why i go to GSMarena.com for that but this ATT thing for me is serious stuff and i depend on this site for the latest news that TMOUSA wont share with the people that pay there bills.

J. Williams

I really enjoy gsmarena too, but you too are reading too much into this. But thanks for your thoughts. Gsmarena is a great site!

Sent you another..and stop getting so mad, my goodness. I’m not assuming anything. YOU always like to prove me wrong when you get a chance…lol. It’s like it’s personal with you, I don’t get it. lol, calm down…

It is personal, how can it not be personal…do you see anyone else writing day after day for the blog? So you’ve managed to find ONE article out of how many did you have to search for that we didn’t cover? I don’t write about CPS articles for reasons I won’t get into but long story short, I concern myself with credible sources of information.

I put a lot of time and effort into this and when someone decides to make a point to call me out I vigorously defend my work and my efforts to bring you guys the best T-Mobile site on earth. You made it sound as though I wasn’t doing a good job and I’m willing to get in the mud and defend myself against people who think I’m not doing a good job.

J. Williams

I’ve hear this before david, and so have you. I’m not attacking you…just asking for you to post more on phones, or tablets. That’s all. Stop getting so mad about it. I’m not saying you do a bad job, never came from me at all. I simply asked for other things than this merger. It is not going to go through, and we all know that. Well, have a good night. Go get some, maybe that will help. LOL j/k man, j/k. lol

You don’t know it isn’t going to go through and the fact that people assume that shows a real lack of understanding as to how this process is going to work. We are a long way from being able to say this isn’t going go through and the sooner we all understand that, the better off we’re all going to be.

You want reports on phones, great so do I but short of making them up out of thin air, there IS NOT phone news related to T-Mobile every day. That happens to be a real negative when you are considering the limited scope of a blog that is concerned with only one carrier. There simply isn’t enough news period for every day of the year which is why some days have no news at all. I’ll happily report phone news, when there is something to report.

Jays_on

for whats its worth, You’ve posted everything I care to see and know about all things tmo. Thanks for all you do David!

I put a lot of time and effort into this and when someone decides to make a point to call me out I vigorously defend my work and my efforts to bring you guys the best T-Mobile site on earth. You made it sound as though I wasn’t doing a good job and I’m willing to get in the mud and defend myself against people who think I’m not doing a good job.

annon

Tmoemployee , I cannot stand the name calling. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. You have no right to silence the voice of someone else. I’m sure you are welcomed to contribute in a respectful manner that is expected from an adult.

I do miss the feel of the site back when the G1 was being released in Q4 of 08. Those were the good’old days. lol.

Anonymous

This is without a doubt the BEST website for anything related to T-MOBILE. If this Merger goes thru we won’t need phones from T-Mobile. I have followed this site for a long time and find it always up to date with just about everything you could want from T-MOBILE. It looks like this merger is taking on more and more big names to block this takeover.

GeeMale

David I like your site. But lately nobody can have a different opinion without being called an idiot by none other than T-Mobile employees themselves.

Not all T-Mobile users are anti AT&T or anti iPhone or anti buyout/merger.

Just because someone disagrees with another poster or sees things differently it does not make them a troll.

An internet troll is someone who purposely tries to incite an argument. I don’t know about you but if someone called me an idiot for expressing my viewpoint they are asking for trouble.

I understand that the comments are a little out of control and my little display to defend the site certainly didn’t help the cause. I can’t stop the T-Mobile employees from contributing and certainly we all want them to, that being said I understand that somehow the comments need to be reigned in and I’m trying to figure out a way to do just that. I’m heavily considering going to Facebook comments right now.

BigMixxx

David, While I agree….some posts you must be able to defend. If your post has no profound meaning at all, post it. It’s fair. If people are taking offense to certain things said, be ready to defend your argument. Most importantly, if you read through the comments as I do, most people are making statements that make sense vs saying things on other boards (check out the engadget — title have been funny lately, bgr, gizmodo and read the comments, nothing but hatred and arguments toward either the author of the article and how ‘poorly written’ it was to just plane stupidity).

I like your site, I come here for knowledge sharing and to take an opportunity to post and most importantly defend my position.

@6f401bc8d37938623f707f91646b0fd2:disqus , I feel you but be not afraid and stick your feet in the water. If you come off as a troll, stay under the bridge, if not, post and defend your position.

Example, I am an android fan. I understand that AT&T is buying a talent set in android that was first to the market which they are dead last. That’s an underlying benefit to AT&T. I understand they are buying a wonderful blackberry infrastructure, including implementation of UMA, and wifi calling in general…COMPLETELY understood. I like T mobile, because they are flexible, and will be onboard to the ship sinks…

jon

I don’t know that fb is the way to go. Sure, it gets rid of most at&t trolls…but not all. It would also not stop former employees that hold a grudge for being “promoted to customer”. The one group it totally alienates, however, is current tmobile employees. Noone is going to post via fb for fear of their jobs. Sure there are bad apples, but those bad apples exist on both sides. And by changing the way this site handles blog posts would effectively silence one side of the debate. I would even go so far as to say the good employees that post here are the most informed and educated on these subjects because it hits them where it matters most (the wallet/purse). To silence them because of a few bad apples would be a shame. I can pretty much tell who in here is a real employee, who is a customer and who is an at&t employee…my advice is to leave it as is. I don’t think you (David) would be condoning the bad comments by not changing it. And to those complaining about the incivility, yeah it sucks. But remember “sticks and stones”. At the end of the day, these are just words on a blog. Hell, I’ve been called names on here and I don’t let it get to me. At the end of the day, I know more about what’s going on at tmobile than the average Joe because my family counts on the 70k my wife makes a year. I am not for this merger, but the reality is noone knows the ultimate outcome.
What we should all understand is that all of the employees are under a ton of stress over this, customers from both carriers are passionate (and rabid in some cases) as well. And at&t employees are, no doubt, jumping in to stir the pot. I think it would do this site a great disservice to change things. You do an awesome job David, don’t let some bad apples ruin it for everyone.

I agree, I wrote a comment on an earlier post about a lot of people being upset should T-Mobile not get the iPhone 5, after that i was called an iPhone troll? I am a proud Windows Phone user and i was just stating the obvious, cause according to my sources (tmonews) 1million users use an unlocked iPhone on T-Mobile’s network. I was going to defend myself but decided not to, I like this site too much to get banned.

I understand your hesitation though in the case of the iPhone I hate the way people comment on them out of blind hatred for Apple. Don’t care for the phone, don’t care about buying it but hating on people just because they want something to be available for purchase is just ridiculous.

I understand your hesitation though in the case of the iPhone I hate the way people comment on them out of blind hatred for Apple. Don’t care for the phone, don’t care about buying it but hating on people just because they want something to be available for purchase is just ridiculous.

I understand your hesitation though in the case of the iPhone I hate the way people comment on them out of blind hatred for Apple. Don’t care for the phone, don’t care about buying it but hating on people just because they want something to be available for purchase is just ridiculous.

JoeyB

When AT&T takes over please keep this site up even if you call it ATTNews.

It will be a great site for former T-Mo subs to give their experiences of the transition, how they handled it and how AT&T treated them through the process.

Jen Madden

The wall street journal said it is unlikely to go through so this site will be tmonews for the forseeable future based on the evidence

Jen Madden

The wall street journal said it is unlikely to go through so this site will be tmonews for the forseeable future based on the evidence

Anonymous

Hopefully well get a clearer understanding of where this could be headed tomorrow. Att and the doj have to submit their settlement plans to the judge tomorrow. Does anyone know if all these other lawsuits that came after the dojs are linked (class action) or are they seperate?

ATT is going to have an uphill battle if all the people who dislike the merger get all their lobbyists to pressurize the politicians ATT has in their pockets.

looks like ATT has swapped positions and is now on the defensive as they have to defend the merits of this crappy deal.

i don’t think they can pull it off without huge divestitures and then t-mo would not be worth it.

Anonymous

Jon – I just watched that entire youtube video….very interesting stuff there. Thanx for that. This deal is so complex…the one thing that jumped out to me was when the cwa pres made a statement about dt buying voicestream 10yrs ago….the us welcomed that investment. A huge international company entering the us wireless market. 10yrs later, doesn’t want them to leave (rightfully so for a number of reasons)…..that statement kinda sounded like the us is holding tmo usa hostage for the sake of maintaining 4 players…..”you can buy into the us but u can’t sell”…..sure dt can sell with no issue to a nontelco, but for much less money….that’s unfair, but I understand the anti-competitive aspects of the deal…..backhaul control, roaming etc….all that can be regulated to ensure smaller carriers don’t get taken advantage of

jon

No problem…anytime. While the cwa pres does raise that issue with welcoming dt; it doesnt hold much water. Voicestream was already a national carrier before dt bought them. Dt didn’t create them from scratch. So his point doesn’t make sense. There were 4 national carriers prior to dt. The govt issue is replacing the competition so that there are 4 carriers after dt leaves. T-Mobile might have done a better job with marketing (getting rid of Jaime Lee-Curtis and having Catherine Zeta-Jones be the new face of the company). But dt didn’t create voicestream…so I think its reasonable for the govt and sprint to demand that there remain AT LEAST 4 major carriers.

jon

No problem…anytime. While the cwa pres does raise that issue with welcoming dt; it doesnt hold much water. Voicestream was already a national carrier before dt bought them. Dt didn’t create them from scratch. So his point doesn’t make sense. There were 4 national carriers prior to dt. The govt issue is replacing the competition so that there are 4 carriers after dt leaves. T-Mobile might have done a better job with marketing (getting rid of Jaime Lee-Curtis and having Catherine Zeta-Jones be the new face of the company). But dt didn’t create voicestream…so I think its reasonable for the govt and sprint to demand that there remain AT LEAST 4 major carriers.

jon

No problem…anytime. While the cwa pres does raise that issue with welcoming dt; it doesnt hold much water. Voicestream was already a national carrier before dt bought them. Dt didn’t create them from scratch. So his point doesn’t make sense. There were 4 national carriers prior to dt. The govt issue is replacing the competition so that there are 4 carriers after dt leaves. T-Mobile might have done a better job with marketing (getting rid of Jaime Lee-Curtis and having Catherine Zeta-Jones be the new face of the company). But dt didn’t create voicestream…so I think its reasonable for the govt and sprint to demand that there remain AT LEAST 4 major carriers.

The merger will go though. No matter what these companies do, is still gonna be approved. GO WITH THE MERGER!!! MEERGE DAMMIT MEEEGEEEE!

Brianb

LOL…you are an AT&T customer who is getting alot of dropped calls eh? Need more spectrum for that Iphone??

The US Department of Justice can stop anything and they already have…..

Fray Contreras

Yes im a ATT customer. No I dont get dropped calls. Unless I cross a bridge. No I dont use the iPhone. I dont even like the iPhone.

ogopogo

Noticed your catchphrase after your name “I love technology!”. If you really understood what you are espousing, you would realize that nothing spurs technology like competition. With T-mobile gone (as you would like), there would be less competition, and hence, less technology.

J. Williams

First off, I’m not your homie. And you wrote a paragraph, but you didn’t say anything. You guys take this waaaayyy too serious. Let go ‘homie’

BigMixxx

Would you rather me say ‘Player’ or ‘My dude’ or other terms I’d rather not quote. You insulted David (IMHO). That’s cool though.

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